Match Reports: Round 4 2016

SENIORS
By Rupert de Crespigny

After a disappointing loss last weekend against Ivanhoe, the Seniors were keen to make amends in order to gain momentum as we commence a crucial part of the season. Missing in action was our senior coach Jon “Nothing better than a rum at” Knight which saw Nick “Same pronunciation but different spelling as Nathan” Bourke take over as head coach for the day.

The first term was a hard fought contest with Prahran locking the ball in their forward half for much of the first quarter. However, they were unable to capitalise with Rupert “I’ll be in the Arc corner with my Mrs” Kemp denying the opposition at every opportunity. Silky ball movement into the forward line allowed the OGs to make the most of their opportunities heading into the first break with a 3 goal lead.

From here the OGs were able to assert themselves on the match winning the ball in tight, allowing them to spread with fluency from the contest. This led to the OGs kicking 6 goals in each of the remaining quarters as Prahran could only manage another 4 for the entire match, seeing the OGs run out 102 point victors. Notable mentions on what was a pleasing day included Tom “Smooth moving” Balcombe’s delicious skills delivering into our forward line, Cal “Not even man flu will keep me down” Wood on his ability to continually offer a leading target up forward and his accurate kicking for goal. Also noteworthy was Colby “Is it because I’m old that I don’t get an opponent?” O’Brien’s ability to intercept Prahran’s incoming forward 50 entries and rebound the ball proficiently.

The result on the weekend should fill the Seniors with great confidence leading into the match against PEGS at their home deck on the weekend which looms as a crucial game to set the OGs’ season up. From all reports the ground is of very similar size to Como which should bode well for the fast-moving, run and carry style the team has enjoyed playing this year.

RESERVES
By Andy Power

Lady Como presented us with a scorcher of a day. Early rumours around the ground were that Jack “return of the” Mac would be ferrying waters to the boys, which had everyone up and about. Coupled with the focus of starting well (on the basis that our 1st quarters in the last few weeks have been laced with lethargy), the boys took to the warm up real vigour.

Whether it was this underlying focus or the fact that Adam “The Real Barista Brother” Wright had slipped some his finer caffeinated products (“Locale Coffee” – $cha$ching$) into our water bottles (delivered by Return of the Mac, as above), the boys came out breathing fire. Tom “The Secret” Osmond was unstoppable, booting 3 goals in the opening 5 minutes, and helping us take a 35 point lead into quarter time.

The theme continued – we continued to kick no less than five goals each quarter, created mainly through solid backline attacks, through the likes of Nick “my glutes are almost as big as APs” O’Hare, Charles “Biebs: what do you mean?” Burbury and Hamish “Maccas are increasing the size of the Big” Macmillan. Big Mac in particular produced his finest performance for the season, and if he moves as well as he does coming out of defence as he does on the D-floor, then I’m getting in early to tee him up with my recently single sister-in-law at the OGs Ball.

Ryan “I train Knighta’s wife and that’s why I’m in the 2s” Parsons and Alex “the best Mo to be seen at OGs since Nick Betts” Stewart were a scary proposition up forward and proved a handful for the bluebaggers. With the addition of Will “the young sleuth” Holmes, the forward line is functioning well. In fact, the VAFA goalkicking stats (which are unashamedly checked almost daily by the writer) show that no less than 4 of the top 7 in the league this season are indeed Oggers.

All in all, the boys managed to put together a memorable 112 point win. The highlight for the day was undoubtedly the screamer taken in our goalsquare by none other than The Secret, before calmly slotting his seventh goal (and saluting the trees around lady Como….weird) - capping off what was an amazing performance, and single handedly silencing his critics (see below).

Each game we are getting better and better – no doubt there is correlation between improvement and familiarity with each other. What is extremely encouraging is that with the level of commitment and continued development that has been shown to date, any one of our players could move up and play a role in the 1s. However just quietly we will be hoping to keep “The Secret” a secret.

Word is that the Furphy Pints at Arc were flowing on Saturday night, but not so for our Prahranian friends at The Orrong……a great result!

Tom “The Secret” Osmond as he skilfully caresses his seventh major for the day.

UNDER 19s
By Harry Wynn-Pope

Last week’s big loss to Ormond had the Unders chomping at the bit for a chance to redeem themselves and get their first taste of the choccies for the season, and what better place to do that than The Lady herself. Early hurdles through the outs of Captains Will "We're better friends" Griffiths and Edward "I prefer zooties to footy boots" Gubbins left holes in the leadership. By popular vote Hugo "Only here for 2 quarters" Bienvenu was made Captain, Well done son.

The end of half saw the boys ahead at the main break for the first time this season, with Tim "Light Beers" Breadmore and Henry "Son of James" Brayshaw kicking a couple of early snags through the big sticks. The OGs were playing fast hard football, led by Shaggy "Twinkle Toes" Tivendale and Ted "Can't Close" Strapp, really showing their true potential. Safe to say, the boys were up and about.

The start of the third saw Hampton kick it up a gear and the Oggers were under the pump. Goals from Johnno "Plugger" Thomson and Charlie "Captain Fast" Calvert kept us in the hunt, with Braiden "Young" Young keeping run through the centre of the ground. Early injures to Todd "The Chook" Richardson and the Stand in Skipper didn't help, and despite remaining ahead at the end of the third, Hampton were just too good in the last 5 minutes, taking the lead and the choccies.

Ripper stuff from the lads, showed what we can do and on what level we can play, just need to keep it up right till the end. Next Week we play top of the table Williamstown, hopefully bringing our good form forward.

CLUB XVIII
By Don Sahlstrom

On a beautiful morning for footy, the Clubbies were ready for their return matchup against Swinburne Uni across the Yarra in beautiful Hawthorn. After a few sneaky froffies on Friday night, whoever was responsible for setting Josh “we could smell you perspiring grog” Sumura’s alarm failed miserably. The return of Tom “I forgot my footy boots” Claeys was an attractive addition to the line-up and one that was sure to provide some nice run around the ground.

The game got underway and before the opposition had woken up, the game looked largely over. The OGs pilled on six goals in the first, while keeping their opposition to a measly score of zero at quarter time. Josh “Favourite for the Coleman” Archer continuing his fine form with a few sausage rolls in the first. Dale “I can do it in the air and off the ground” Mckie also showed his versatility sneaking a Christiano Ronaldo off the ground from the top of the square.

Complacency throughout the second quarter proved costly, especially into a rather strong breeze (which picked up over the quarter time break). A lack of talk, movement, intensity and some sloppy kicking out of full back resulted in the OGs losing their first quarter for the season. Swinburne reduced the quarter time lead back to 25 points and looked eager to cause a major upset.

In true OGs fashion, we regrouped and had a thorough evaluation of the quarter over the half time break, highlighting what worked well during the first quarter and what went wrong during the second. The consensus was clear, we were a far more skilled and talented team than Swinburne, but our lack of grunt and flat footedness into the wind was allowing them to play the game on their terms.

The OGs piled on 11 goals 4 behinds for the quarter producing a whopping 70 points in the third. The backs didn’t have to move for much of the quarter much to the relief of Chaz “Needs a good rub” Gibbs who for the first time this season didn’t cramp. Meanwhile Lewis “Coach Carter or Eddie Betts?” Chiodo ran the oversize Swinburne defenders in circles and Johnny “the self-appointed Chief” Graham monstered Swinburne out of the guts racking up multiple centre clearances and kicking a few snags himself.

The fourth quarter provided us with a great opportunity to consolidate our lead and into the wind the OGs managed to win the term with 5 majors to nil. A great win in the end from the OGs boys, who were challenged in the second quarter but responded to produce a dominant second half of footy. Best on ground went to Ed “will be tough for you to crack a spot in the side upon your return” Smith and Dewy for moving the magnets.

This week the OGs face a depleted UHS who last week were defeated by 162 points. All things going well we may add to our already impressive percentage of 509% for the year.